Inside the Sanctuary – It’s All About Jesus
The Golden Candlestick
Jesus the Light of the World
Exodus 25:31, 37 You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. … You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it.
As you entered the sanctuary, on the south side to your left would be a seven branched candlestick made entirely of a single piece of solid gold. The apostle John was granted a vision of heaven where he saw the reality of which the golden candlestick was but a shadow. In vision John saw Jesus walking among seven candlesticks.
Revelation 1:12-13 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
Jesus explains to John the meaning of what he saw.
Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
The number seven in the Bible denotes a complete number. The earthly candlestick and its seven branches, each holding a lamp, represented God’s church on earth. The church of Christ is the lamp stand which in this world lifts up Jesus, who is the Lamp, the Light, of this world. Individually, the Christian, to the extent that the life of Jesus shines through him, is also a light to the world – but always the light is the light of Jesus.
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The lamps in the earthly sanctuary were to burn continually. So the Christian is to always let the Spirit of God rule in his life, thus becoming living lamps through which the light of God shines forth in this dark world.
Only the High Priest could perform the sacred work of lighting the lamps in the earthly sanctuary. He trimmed the wicks and lighted the lamps every morning and evening. And so, none other than Jesus, our High Priest, can trim our lamps. In the morning we need His Spirit to direct us during the day. In the evening we need His Spirit to enlighten our minds as we review the work of the day. Only Jesus can trim away the faults and flaws of our lives. The trimming of the lamps is a type of the daily lessons we must learn from Jesus our High Priest.
In and of ourselves we have no light, and whatever light we may think we have in ourselves, if it is not of Jesus it is in reality deepest darkness.
The Table of Showbread
Jesus the Bread of Life
Exodus 25:23-25, 30 You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold all around. You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold molding for the frame all around. … And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.
As you entered the sanctuary the table of showbread would have been to your right, on the north side of the sanctuary. On the Sabbath day the Levites made twelve loaves or cakes of unleavened bread. These cakes were placed on the table hot each Sabbath day, and arranged in two rows or piles – six to a row, with pure frankincense on each row.
These twelve loaves would lay on the table for the entire week, only being removed when twelve fresh loaves replaced them on the table the following Sabbath. These loaves are called “the bread of the presence.” Once the old loaves were removed, they were then eaten by the priests. All the service with the table of showbread was done on the Sabbath. The bread was prepared on the Sabbath and placed hot on the table on the Sabbath. The following Sabbath it was removed and eaten by the priest on that Sabbath.
The Priests, the Bible tells us, served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things;” therefore there is a heavenly lesson for us in the showbread.
The showbread was a continual offering before the Lord. It taught that man was wholly dependent upon God for both natural and spiritual food.
This, like all other types of the sanctuary service, met its fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus is the true bread of presence. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh.” Jesus went on to say, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man … you have no life in you.” To explain Himself, Jesus goes on to say;
John 6:51-53, 63 It is the spirit that quickened; the flesh profited nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The Word of God, the Holy Bible is the true bread of which we are to eat.
As the bread of the presence of God was taken from the sanctuary and distributed to the priests to be eaten, so Jesus said;
John 14:24 The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
The Word of God, the Bible came direct from God. God gave it to Jesus. Jesus signified it by His angels unto the prophets, and the prophets gave it to the people. (Revelation 1:1).
We must feed on the Word of God. And there is no more appropriate time to let God speak to us through His word than on the Sabbath day, when we lay aside all worldly cares and business, and take the time to read and study and pray upon His Holy Word until we hear God speak to us through it.
The priests were not only to set the hot bread on the table on the Sabbath day, but later that same bread by being eaten was to become a part of their very being. Even so, we need to eat of the Word of God until it becomes a part of our very being. Here is the secret of true Christian living. Eternal life does not come to us through forms and ceremonies. They are alright in their place. But eternal life results from feeding upon the Bread of Life, the true bread that comes from Heaven.
The Altar of Incense
Jesus our Righteousness
Exodus 30:1-3, 6 You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width-it shall be square-and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. … And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
As you entered the sanctuary you would have seen the Altar of Incense on the far end of that first chamber of the sanctuary, sitting directly in front of the veil that divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant sat.
The incense burned on the Altar was composed of an equal weight of four fragrant gums and resins and was to be used only by the priest on this Altar. It was very sacred and anyone who made for their own use anything like it was to be cut off from among the people.
The High priest alone was to perform the sacred duty of placing the incense before the Lord on the Altar of Incense.
This Altar and the incense burned upon it were designed to be a type of the work that Jesus, our great High Priest is performing for us. The apostle John in vision saw the heavenly reality of which the earthly service was a type. John in vision witnessed the incense being offered burned on the heavenly Altar.
Revelation 8:3-4 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
John saw the incense being mingled with the prayers of the saints. He saw those prayers, after the incense was added, ascend up before God, and they were accepted because they were made fragrant with the incense. Here we see the work of the Holy Spirit, taking the weak and feeble prayers of sinful men, and presenting them perfect before a Holy God.
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The Holy Spirit takes our faulty prayers and presents them perfect before the Father mingled with the sweet incense of Christ’s perfect righteousness.
When Jesus was preparing His disciples for when He would ascend to heaven, Jesus assured them, “Whatsover you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.” (John 16:23).
The power in a name is in the character of the individual that bears the name. The name of Jesus is honored in Heaven, and every prayer presented in that name is granted in heaven because Jesus’ perfect life is the incense that is presented before the Father with our prayers. Jesus lived a sinless life. He “knew no sin.” The prince of this world, the devil, had nothing in Jesus, for He was pure and holy, without one stain of sin. It is Christ’s perfect righteousness that makes our prayers accepted before the Father.
John saw the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascend up before God. Our prayers, made fragrant by the righteousness of Christ our Savior, are presented by the Holy Spirit to the Father. The weakest saint who knows how to press before the Throne of Grace in the name of Jesus, the sinless One, has all the resources of heaven at his command.
The name of Jesus is often added to prayers in a meaningless way. Many prayers are spoken for a mere form of worship and go no higher than the ceiling – but every prayer of faith reaches the ear of God, and that prayer is presented perfect in Christ’s righteousness before the Father by the Holy Spirit.
David understood what was typified by the incense and prayed;
Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
There was no part of the daily ministration in the earthly service that brought the priest so directly into the presence of God as the offering of the incense. There above the veil, before which the Altar of Incense stood, could be seen the glow of the Shekinah Glory, the literal visible presence of God, that rested above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. Likewise, there is no part of our religious service that brings us so close to God as the pouring out of our hearts in earnest prayer.
In the heavenly sanctuary Jesus, our High Priest has an inexhaustible supply of righteousness. In the type, the incense was always ascending, typifying that at any time, day or night, when a struggling soul cries out for help, or give thanks and praise, his prayer is heard.
In the typical work, the one who attempted to use this incense for their own use was cut off for among the people of God. There was to be no imitation of the incense. No fire was to be used for burning the incense except that taken from the altar before the Lord. Nadab and Abihu, while drunk, offered “strange fire” before the Lord, and were slain. (Leviticus 10:1-10).
Their fate is an object lesson of all who fail to appreciate the perfect righteousness of Jesus, and who appear before the Lord in the “filthy rags” of their own righteousness. (Isaiah 64:6).
The horns of the Altar of Incense were often touched with the blood of the sin offering, thus typifying that it is Christ’ death that made it possible for our prayers to be answered and for us to be clothed in His righteousness.
The fragrance of the incense was carried by the wind to all the surrounding area. In a like manner, when a Christian is clothed in Christ’s righteousness, an influence will go out from him to all those around him. A savor of life and light to all who are in darkness.
The Ark of the Covenant
Jesus our Advocate
After God instructed Moses to build a sanctuary, the very first instruction the Lord gave was:
Exodus 25:10-1 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around.
The cover of the ark was called the mercy seat and was made of a single piece of pure gold. On either end of the mercy seat, and of one piece with it, were cherubim with their wings stretched out covering the ark.
Exodus 25:17-18 You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
It is what was to be placed inside the ark that made the ark the most important item in the sanctuary. There, inside the Ark were the Ten Commandments which God Himself had engraved on stone.
Exodus 25: 21-22 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
The Lord Himself covered the law that man had broken with a mercy seat, and above the mercy seat shown the Shekinah Glory, the literal visible presence of God on earth.
The mercy seat, with the Shekinah Glory, the visible representation of God’s presence, and its covering cherubim, is the figure, or “shadow” of the Judgment seat, the throne of God. Here, God’s perfect mercy and perfect justice meet in perfect harmony.
The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. The law demands the death of the sinner. And as the law is as holy as the God who gave them, (for every transgression of the law is a transgression against who gave them), only one equal with God could meet the demands of the law on man’s behalf. In the typical service the blood of a sacrifice was sprinkled above the mercy seat which covered the broken law. This was representative of the blood of Christ which would free every repentant sinner from the demands of the law. Jesus Himself having met the full demands of the law on man’s behalf.
However, the mercy seat is more than just a representation of the judgment throne, it is also representative, as its name implies, of the throne of grace. Look again at Exodus 25:21 concerning the mercy seat.
Exodus 25:21 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
He says, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat.” If we are truly Christ’s, then that privilege is also ours. We are told that as Christians we may come boldly to the throne of grace.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
If indeed we are Christ’s we do not need to fear the judgment throne, for to us that throne is a throne of grace.